When I was a young boy (back when the crust of the earth was cooling :) ), I would often get a rash on my arms. My mother would take me to the doctor and he would prescribe a tube of white goo to rub on the rash to make it better. I was looking at the tube one day (didn't have anything better to do) and I noticed that it was rather imaginatively called "The Ointment". It may as well have been call "the white goo". But I digress.
I believed the ointment worked. It always worked. However it wasn't of any value until I applied it to my skin. The word of God is like that. You can believe in it, cherish it, recommend it but it doesn't do any good until it is applied to your soul. Application is what the point of the Bible is.
Reading it and studying it are an important part of the process God has planned but they are bordering on useless if the word is not applied to your heart. James 1:22 puts it this way. “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
By all means, search and find the meaning of the text. Certainly teach it and proclaim it. But don't nullify all that good work by not applying it to your life and teaching the application.
Some of us love words a little too much. We enjoy the academic experience of Bible Study a little too much.
We need to ask the question when listening to God's word, "What does God want me to do?". And then go out and do it.
Applying the ointment. What a concept?
Institutional Christians
After talking with many Christians lately I have been impressed with the huge gulf there is between having an institutional connection to God and a relational one.
An institutional one is one where we see our relationship with God being through the group that we are in. We think, “I am in the church, therefore I am connected to God”. We see all our relationships with people in the church as “group” relationships and many times that means that they are not that personal. Other Christians soon become just the “people I see at church”. It doesn’t have to be this way but I am seeing it far too much in the wide range of churches I am moving amongst at the moment.
This is not the complaint of one who is looking for the perfect church. That animal doesn’t exist. Didn’t exist in the first century. It is futile to look for it in the 21st century.
No, what I am talking about here is a paradigm shift in the way we look at God and other Christians.
God has planned for his church to be a people, not an institution. “As he says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,” and, “It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God’.”” Romans 9:25, 26. Christians are an organic body not an organization (1 Corinthians 12:13,14). We are a family not “co-habiters”. Our connection is not that we end up in the same place each week, it is the one who draws us to that place.
We are brothers and sisters, a people who belong to our Father, God. “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” 1 Peter 2:9, 10. We are all sinners who have received mercy.
Warning Signs you are an “Institutional Christian”
- You really don’t want to hang around with Christians except at church for a brief period on Sunday.
- You only get concerned about others at church when they are not “at church”.
- Your social connection with other Christians is minimal and mostly formal.
- When Christians get in trouble, you run away from them.
- You hit the carpark 1.5 seconds after the final prayer at church. Sometimes even after the communion.
- You never hang around for lunch with the church.
- You would rather have hernia surgery than volunteer to help out with anything to do with church.
- You haven’t invited anyone to a Christian gathering of any sort in years.
Is this you? I see myself in this list and I am an evangelist. I should know better, but I fall into bad habits. What about you? Be honest. This is important. Is "this" what Jesus is about? Enter the conversation. There is life in the church.
Next blog: How to get out of the institutional Christian trap.
Who Is Left?
Think of all the people who have been in your life?
Who has hung in there with you for the long haul?
Some are with you when "things" are going well but fade when "things" turn bad.
Some are close when you live close but they disappear when you move away.
Some are your friend while it is useful for them but the friendship fades as they don't need you much any more.
After all the "fade outs", and moves who is left by your side? These are special people. They are truly friends. They choose to be with you (even if it is only Facebook from the other side of the world) despite your failures, mistakes and even successes. The wise one puts it this way. “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” Proverbs 17:17.
I find ministry in the church is also a good place to ask this question. Who is left?
Some shine brightly for a little time. They are the focus of excitement but just a few years later they are gone. There are the really clever ones who make a lot of sense with their strategy for change but after a while they are gone. If you have been around in churches for a few years you know what I am talking about.
Who is left? Who has given up or found it more convenient to (or even called to) move on. People may be gone for perfectly godly reasons. I am not questioning their motivations. I just have found it so sobering and encouraging to focus on the ones who stay for whole game and don't leave at half time.
Thank God for the ones who hang in there. They are here for you and your church. They may have been around so long that they blend into the background but don't let them. Praise them. Seek them. Allow God to use them. God has put them in your life for a reason. Love them. Above all, love them.
Reminds me of Paul's comment about Timothy, his long time partner in ministry. “I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no-one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.”Philippians 2:19-22.
Reach out the ones who are left with you.
Who has hung in there with you for the long haul?
Some are with you when "things" are going well but fade when "things" turn bad.
Some are close when you live close but they disappear when you move away.
Some are your friend while it is useful for them but the friendship fades as they don't need you much any more.
After all the "fade outs", and moves who is left by your side? These are special people. They are truly friends. They choose to be with you (even if it is only Facebook from the other side of the world) despite your failures, mistakes and even successes. The wise one puts it this way. “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” Proverbs 17:17.
I find ministry in the church is also a good place to ask this question. Who is left?
Some shine brightly for a little time. They are the focus of excitement but just a few years later they are gone. There are the really clever ones who make a lot of sense with their strategy for change but after a while they are gone. If you have been around in churches for a few years you know what I am talking about.
Who is left? Who has given up or found it more convenient to (or even called to) move on. People may be gone for perfectly godly reasons. I am not questioning their motivations. I just have found it so sobering and encouraging to focus on the ones who stay for whole game and don't leave at half time.
Thank God for the ones who hang in there. They are here for you and your church. They may have been around so long that they blend into the background but don't let them. Praise them. Seek them. Allow God to use them. God has put them in your life for a reason. Love them. Above all, love them.
Reminds me of Paul's comment about Timothy, his long time partner in ministry. “I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no-one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel.”Philippians 2:19-22.
Reach out the ones who are left with you.
Reflections on a Weekend
Recently I participated in the Australia Christian Convention hosted by WestChurch in Sydney and it included believers from all over the Restoration Movement but mainly the Acapella Churches of Christ, Independent Christian Churches and Former International Churches of Christ.
What hit me the most was not our differences but the immensity of the similarities of our journeys. Certainly our journeys had been different but here we were standing up for the gospel of Jesus and striving to learn how better to proclaim that gospel. There were representatives from 7 church plantings currently active in the South Pacific. All quite unique in their approaches and contexts but all united in their love for Jesus and their love for people and their unswerving commitment to the truth that only Jesus provides the complete solution to the paradox of live in the 21st century. I love these brothers and sisters.
Another thing that hit me is a little bit harder to express. I know this can sound a little judgmental, so please, while reading these words, give me the benefit of the doubt. I have been working in church context for 32 years and I have noticed that there are two sorts of approaches to the work of the kingdom. There are those who seem to endlessly talk about our mission. And then there are those who not only talk about it, but actually get out there and get busy doing something about it. A lot of them fall flat on their faces but they do so while putting their lives where their mouths are. The brothers and sisters that characterized this weekend were doers. They have left family, financial security and lucrative secular careers to do what Jesus has called them to do and my admiration for them is unbounded.
I was touched deeply to an old Dire Straits song and I think it applies here.
"Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
I've witnessed all your suffering
As the battles raged higher
And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms"
Ahh. Brothers in arms. Our brotherhood is not just built on the God who died for us but in our dedication to the mission he gave us from the foot of the cross. I so glad I have brothers in arms. They lift me up. They keep me humble. They inspire me. They stand up for me. Thank God that He gave us brothers in arms.
http://georgelittlejourney.blogspot.com/
What hit me the most was not our differences but the immensity of the similarities of our journeys. Certainly our journeys had been different but here we were standing up for the gospel of Jesus and striving to learn how better to proclaim that gospel. There were representatives from 7 church plantings currently active in the South Pacific. All quite unique in their approaches and contexts but all united in their love for Jesus and their love for people and their unswerving commitment to the truth that only Jesus provides the complete solution to the paradox of live in the 21st century. I love these brothers and sisters.
Another thing that hit me is a little bit harder to express. I know this can sound a little judgmental, so please, while reading these words, give me the benefit of the doubt. I have been working in church context for 32 years and I have noticed that there are two sorts of approaches to the work of the kingdom. There are those who seem to endlessly talk about our mission. And then there are those who not only talk about it, but actually get out there and get busy doing something about it. A lot of them fall flat on their faces but they do so while putting their lives where their mouths are. The brothers and sisters that characterized this weekend were doers. They have left family, financial security and lucrative secular careers to do what Jesus has called them to do and my admiration for them is unbounded.
I was touched deeply to an old Dire Straits song and I think it applies here.
"Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
I've witnessed all your suffering
As the battles raged higher
And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms"
Ahh. Brothers in arms. Our brotherhood is not just built on the God who died for us but in our dedication to the mission he gave us from the foot of the cross. I so glad I have brothers in arms. They lift me up. They keep me humble. They inspire me. They stand up for me. Thank God that He gave us brothers in arms.
http://georgelittlejourney.blogspot.com/
Techno Jesus
I work for a high technology company. I work for Jesus. I use technology a lot in both of my jobs as well as in my personal life.
While I am in awe (most of the time) of the monthly advances in technology, I also am convinced that this technology is more than just ornamental gadgetry which the middle class get to play with.
On the other hand, technology is not the solution to what ails this world. The greatest lie of the past two centuries is that science will solve the world's problems. It certainly has improved the standard of living of many but people still die from starvation, wars still kill countless innocents, people still kill people, women still get raped. The list of atrocities that have been endemic in human life since there has been human life has not changed.
This doesn't mean that technology hasn't helped. I am constantly amazed at how technology has helped in patching up the human body. However, as good as it is, we still all die. It may be at an older age but are all terminal.
Yet in all this, technology can help us in the ministry of helping people. It helps particularly in the area of staying in touch. I know that in my ministry I can, and so still do, stay in touch with hundreds of people that previously I would have rarely communicated with. Email, Facebook, Twitter, Websites have all helped in this. While this is not a replacement for sitting next to someone and speaking to them and giving them a hug of encouragement, it certainly does help when either geography or time constraints prevent us from being with each other.
However, these tools of communication are only has helpful as the content that we put into them.
I can't help but feel that if Jesus were with us today He would have a Facebook page and would occasionally twitter from the mount.
Sure there are limitations with technology and there are dangers and abuses, but we have got to realize that such things are common to any attempt at communication or fellowship, even church gatherings. We just have learn how to deal with the negative side.
Paul did say, “... I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” 1 Corinthians 9:22. Let's use "all possible means".
http://www.preachergeorge.com
While I am in awe (most of the time) of the monthly advances in technology, I also am convinced that this technology is more than just ornamental gadgetry which the middle class get to play with.
On the other hand, technology is not the solution to what ails this world. The greatest lie of the past two centuries is that science will solve the world's problems. It certainly has improved the standard of living of many but people still die from starvation, wars still kill countless innocents, people still kill people, women still get raped. The list of atrocities that have been endemic in human life since there has been human life has not changed.
This doesn't mean that technology hasn't helped. I am constantly amazed at how technology has helped in patching up the human body. However, as good as it is, we still all die. It may be at an older age but are all terminal.
Yet in all this, technology can help us in the ministry of helping people. It helps particularly in the area of staying in touch. I know that in my ministry I can, and so still do, stay in touch with hundreds of people that previously I would have rarely communicated with. Email, Facebook, Twitter, Websites have all helped in this. While this is not a replacement for sitting next to someone and speaking to them and giving them a hug of encouragement, it certainly does help when either geography or time constraints prevent us from being with each other.
However, these tools of communication are only has helpful as the content that we put into them.
I can't help but feel that if Jesus were with us today He would have a Facebook page and would occasionally twitter from the mount.
Sure there are limitations with technology and there are dangers and abuses, but we have got to realize that such things are common to any attempt at communication or fellowship, even church gatherings. We just have learn how to deal with the negative side.
Paul did say, “... I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” 1 Corinthians 9:22. Let's use "all possible means".
http://www.preachergeorge.com
The Lull
Don't you just love that word, "lull"? Well, I don't. I have several character flaws but one of the more obvious ones is impatience. I don't like waiting. There I said it. I know I seem like an arrogant self important man but I really don't think I am. I hope I'm not because then this character flaw will have far too much depth.
Not being willing to waiting in line at a restaurant or a shop or at the bank is a problem but not as big a problem as not being willing to wait on God. I must admit I feel like my life is in a bit of a lull at the moment. There's that word again.
I am working hard and long as an evangelist with Northside and as a computer specialist with the fruit company but there is this deep sense I have that, even though there is a lot of activity in my life, there really isn't a lot of progress. I have never been good at judging situations so I am not confident in my analysis. There may be a lot of progress being made and I am just not aware of it.
Well all this rambling has led me to a question. What do you do in a lull? Here are some thoughts I have as I look at the second half of 2010.
I know I said all those things to the amorphous "you" but I was talking to "me" but I thought I would take it better if I thought this was for someone else first. I'm such a man. And I also write most of my blogs for therapy and this has been good for me.
What do you do in a lull?
http://georgelittlejourney.blogspot.com/
Not being willing to waiting in line at a restaurant or a shop or at the bank is a problem but not as big a problem as not being willing to wait on God. I must admit I feel like my life is in a bit of a lull at the moment. There's that word again.
I am working hard and long as an evangelist with Northside and as a computer specialist with the fruit company but there is this deep sense I have that, even though there is a lot of activity in my life, there really isn't a lot of progress. I have never been good at judging situations so I am not confident in my analysis. There may be a lot of progress being made and I am just not aware of it.
Well all this rambling has led me to a question. What do you do in a lull? Here are some thoughts I have as I look at the second half of 2010.
Accept the times. Be content in the situation has put you in. Didn't God say something about that?
Work hard at what you have before you. Just because you can't see a significant purpose in what is before you doesn't mean that God will not use it (or has already planned to use it) for His will.Love people. Whoever is in your life, love them. Don't look at them as stepping stones to success in ministry or God's purpose for you. Just love them.
Love God. Remember this whole "living on Earth thing" is about God and you. Love Him. He says this is the most important thing so who are you to argue?Pray a lot. Talk to Him who thinks about you more than anyone else.
Read His word. Seems so trite to say this but It is the things that we think are childish that often are the most important. Just read it. Don't study it, analyze it or use it as prep for a lesson. Just read it.Got off your own back. Stop beating yourself up. You can only do what you can do. Take each day one at a time. Enjoy the ride. Otherwise God will never be able to use you as you want Him to.
I know I said all those things to the amorphous "you" but I was talking to "me" but I thought I would take it better if I thought this was for someone else first. I'm such a man. And I also write most of my blogs for therapy and this has been good for me.
What do you do in a lull?
http://georgelittlejourney.blogspot.com/
What does good news look like?
Jesus calls His message for this world, good news.
As Christians we know what good news is. How do we express that? Most of us would use words like “being saved”. Now that is good news. Some would say that being justified, redeemed, added to God’s family, His church is good news. And they would be right. These words mean a lot to us and speak of the amazing gift God has given to us as we responded to His good news message.
However we didn’t always express the good news of Jesus that way. We didn’t even now how to spell “justification”, let alone spell out what it means.
When we first heard the good news we saw it as it related to us at that point in our lives. If you are a baby boomer, then you probably saw the good news in some familiar terms in relation to faith in God and faith in the Bible.
Those days are gone. We live in societies that know little of God or of the Bible. So when we speak of good news to them it looks very different to the images and ideas we have had.
If you are speaking to a person who hasn’t had a decent meal all week and you tell him you have good news, what does that look like to him? He can’t help but think of a good meal. His basic need frames his whole world for that day. Do you think that might have had something to with Jesus feeding great crowds? See Mark 6:34-44 etc.
If you are taking the good news to a person who has been discriminated against all their life, have a guess what good news looks like to them? They imagine a life where they are accepted and loved. Do you think that might have a lot to do with Jesus spending so much time with the disenfranchised of His society? See Matthew 9:10-13
Jesus often presented good news to people in terms of what the people He was speaking thought was good news.
Lost Things. To those who feel like they have lost something, or feel like they are missing something He would frame the good news with a story of someone finding something value in the ordinary run of life. See Luke 15:4-9.
Failed Relationships. For those who had lost a relationship to someone close, even family, He would tell a story of a wasteful and selfish son who returned to his father. See Like 15:11 ff.
You can seeing Jesus thinking, “What would these people think good news is?”. We spend so much time telling people of doctrinal positions and elegant frameworks of truths and what does Jesus do? He tells people stories, but not just entertaining stories. They are stories the have at the core of their message, the good news of Jesus. But why does He speak in stories? Because He doesn’t just want to state the truth, He wants to communicate it. And who determines what communicates? The speaker or the hearer? It is the hearer.
To those used the language and structure of a kingdom He presented the good news as a coming king
To those who were being ruled by an army of occupation he spoke of the kingdom being restored to Israel.
To those who were used to farming He would proclaim good news in terms of planting and harvesting.
To those who were being ruled by an army of occupation he spoke of the kingdom being restored to Israel.
To those who were used to farming He would proclaim good news in terms of planting and harvesting.
What He was actually doing was fulfilling God’s plan to bring everything together under Christ (Ephesians 1:9-10). However when He spoke of this good news He would speak in the language and aspirations of the hearers.
You and I need to look at those people that God is bringing into our lives and ask, “What does good news look like to them?”. Initially it may have nothing to do with Bible study, church or even Jesus. What will it look like?
http://georgelittlejourney.blogspot.com/
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